By Charles Walford
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Loose leaf or teabag? Milk first or last?
Many people have their own theory about making the perfect cup of tea, but it usual involves being made with a kettle - until now.
Cambridge engineers yesterday unveiled a machine they claim brews the perfect cuppa.
But whether tea traditionalists will be convinced to shell out £150 for a gadget which replaces a mug and a spoon remains to be seen.
Workers at Cambridge Consultants, who invented the first round teabag, have built a machine that spins pods filled with tea leaves at high speed.
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Down to a tea: Edward Brunner from Cambridge Consultants with the new machine that could spell the end of the teabag
The tea capsule is similar to those used in 'one cup' coffee machines
The scientists say the machine makes a 'high-quality' brew and allows drinkers to have more control over the strength and flavour of their tea.
It works in a similar way to modern 'one cup' coffee machines, with capsules of tea being slotted into a type of kettle.
Boiling water is then drawn into the capsule where it bubbles through the tea leaves, collecting flavour before it drops into the pot below.
The Te machine promises to brew a cuppa in just two minutes - half the time of a traditional teapot.
Its inventors say the capsule could also be used in individual mugs.
If the technology catches on it could render the tea bag obsolete after 100 years as a staple of hot beverages around the world.
Edward Brunner, group leader of the industrial and scientific group at Cambridge Consultants, said tea drinkers have previously been 'forgotten about'.
He said: 'Whilst coffee systems have seen a significant amount of innovation over the last decade nothing has changed in tea brewing, leaving the tea drinker almost forgotten about.
'We saw a real opportunity to use our experience in the beverage industry to level the playing field and make a step change in this category.
Hot stuff: The gadget makes 'the perfect cuppa' in just two minutes
THE TIME-HONOURED APPROACH
TO THE PERFECT CUPPA
Apparently making the perfect mug of tea is all down to the science.
University researchers last year devised a mathematical formula for the ideal brew.
The optimum brewing time is two minutes and the ideal amount of milk is 10ml.
The perfect drinking temperature of 60c is achieved six minutes later – but after 17 minutes and 30 seconds the tea will be past its best as it falls below 45c.
Or, as the scientists at the University of Northumbria put it in their formula: TB + (H2O at 100 degrees centigrade) 2mins BT + C (10ml) 6mins BT = PC (at OT 60 degrees centigrade).
TB means tea bag, BT is brewing time, C is milk, PC means perfect cuppa, and OT stands for optimum temperature.
For the research, commissioned by a milk company, the team spent 180 hours in the lab testing brewing methods, and a panel of volunteers consumed 285 cups of tea.
The research, for Cravendale Milk, also found that in Britain we drink 165million cups of tea a day, or 60.2billion a year.
'Thanks to our expertise in fluidic systems and functional packaging, and our dedicated dispense lab facilities, we have been able to finely tune the process needed to offer the most sophisticated brewing platform to bring customised, high-quality tea dispensing into the home.
'Contrary to other tea machines on the market, this is based on a genuine tea-brewing process - rather than simply a ‘single-pass flow’ with fresh water.
'The technology process has been developed with black teas but has the potential to be used across a range of herbal and fruit teas, and other hot drinks.'
The Te machine is expected to be at the lower end of the price range for similar coffee devices.
When it goes to market within the next two years the prices of the individual capsules will depend on the type of tea leaves selected, the manufacturer said.
The tea bag is first believed to have come into use in the US in 1908 when Thomas Sullivan, a New York tea merchant, sent samples of tea to customers in small silk bags.
Gauze bags, as we know them today, were first put into commercial production in the 1920s as they grew in popularity in America.
The bags were largely rejected by tradition tea drinkers in Britain until the 1950s when Tetley drove their introduction on this side of the Atlantic. The company then created the round teabag in 1989
According to the United Kingdom Tea Council 60.2 billion cups of tea are drunk in Britain every year.
Watch the Te machine in action...
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